How did you know what kind of business to start?

With your abilities and knowledge in mind, follow the money.

- Tom

Well for me, when I started I had no real direction. I knew that deep down 'selling' was really what made money online - didn't matter if it was on the phone, through a VSL or through a letter, selling was the key. I studied a lot of psychological pieces as well as copywriting and funnel creation aspects.

This, to me, was extremely interesting and did not feel like work to me. So I started Freelancing helping business owners improve their bottom line through the online medias. After a few successful stints as a freelancer, I was able to market myself as a consultant, specifically to the nightlife industry. When I was able to increase bar/club revenue upwards of 400% ROI off ad spend, I knew I had a lot of potential.

Then, I was stupid. Haha... I thought about stopping the actual 'business building' piece of the puzzle to learn more about copywriting and try to become a copywriter. Makes sense, doesn't it? Stop what's working and switch to something else.

It wasn't before I met my current employer (now partner) who was a full-time content writer and copywriter for his business, who requested that I help with split testing and improving his sales funnels. After countless conversations with my partner as well as after adding tens of thousands of dollars to his business, I stopped my copywriting pursuit and headed towards becoming a 'funnel expert' so to speak.



I think for me, I did not feel the value of what I brought to the table, because early on working from home the 'build your own business' mindset was engrained too much. The key with working from home, isn't about 'your business' it is about your skillset that can be attributed and monetized down the road.

I guess to sum this up, I fell into it.

Hey, Karl. For me, I had to explore my options. After that, it was basically like, "Which one of these best suits me?" When I first started online, I wrote for some sites and got paid for my content. I didn't like that too much. The reason was because I didn't feel I was getting paid enough per article and for my time. By the time I got paid, the money was already spent. I thought about writing for other marketers but came to the conclusion that I'm too lazy for that.

I'm not good with deadlines. After that, I got into niche blogging. I like the fact that I can work around my own schedule and that the income is residual, so this is what I've been focusing on for the longest time. I've noticed that people who like to write really like either ghostwriting, publishing stuff on Kindle, or having PLR stores.

Joey

My first goal online was to advertise my existing "snail mail" business. So I guess it wasn't a consideration.

Business is business - you advertise, follow-up, cross promote, etc.

Your question is actually "Which market (or niche) you wanted to start with?"

I have two website/business and I am researching and preparing for a third.

The first one I was literally at a crossroads of my life (May 2014). I had come through a lot and was ready for the next half of my life. I knew I could not 'go forward' unless I learned how to consistently create money in my life. At that point, I was not thinking online business, but any business, online or offline. I am a person with a lot of interests, skills, and talents, so I had no shortage of ideas. But what I did need to do was to choose ONE, because I knew that whichever one I chose, I was going to focus with it, years, until it was big and exactly what I wanted. So I wrote down a lot of ideas and notes, brainstorming. I considered each one, what it would take to do it, etc. It did come to mind at that time something I had read about before, which was information product funnels. So I decided that I would build an information product funnel. Well, what would be my information? I decided that the personal challenges I had come through in life and how I overcame them would be my material.

My second business I kind of built it from another direction. I had been introduced to affiliate marketing, in connection with a specific educational product regarding affiliate marketing. I appreciated the opportunity to make high ticket commissions on this product. However, it didn't fit in with my previous business. And I didn't just want to be like "Buy this product. It will help you make money." I wanted to create something sincere, unique, that reflected me, and would truly be of service; and meanwhile provide an opportunity where some sales of that product might make sense and take place. Well, I got a little spark of an idea, and really, it started to build itself inside my head, and when I am building it 'outside my head', I'm just following the blueprints that seem to be downloading to me!! Not that I haven't done a LOT of learning and research; I have. I didn't know I had a calling to teach regarding entrepreneurship (I would have thought that was the last thing I would have authority in); but I have tons of fun and feel like it's what I'm born to do kind of thing.

My next business: my first two are very 'me' intensive. I do healing, coaching, writing, audios, videos, create products, plus the marketing, web building, and social media side of things, etc.. I love it, but it's just a lot. And I'm not at the 'massive money point' either. I'm still in the planting seeds part and having faith in the harvest. Plus I still have all my other ideas that seem to clamor to be born (focus, Jenn!). When someone first taught me about niche, I went and wrote down like 30 microniches just from my passions. So I have that list, and I intend to create something around each item, over time. Years. No hurry. So the first one of those I chose is a physical product that I love and I will be creating an amazon store website for it. So I won't have to have the product or shipping. I will be doing the content and marketing and list-building, of course.

= = = = = =
Think about some skill you have, a passion you have, something you think you would love to learn even if you know nothing now. Think about your life experiences, or what kind of person would you like to help, or what problem you would like to solve. Think about a broad area first maybe (like health? recreation? etc) and then start narrowing it down.

depends if you doing it to get an idea or product out or a just for making money.

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies! Will go through them more when I get back from work

I'm not the only person like me. That's where the idea begins......

I would like to suggest you to start that work, where you are expert. You should no invest any money in the online sector, before knowing well. So learn first, if you are inexpert. You can learn any business by investing a small amount of money or, you can use as DEMO. Thanks a lot.

You need to post entertaining Ideas, Stories, Jokes, songs, funny videos etc.. in a single platform for user entertaining purpose and get connected with adsense for extra earning...I think it would be the best Ideas of Internet related work.

My first one was just kind of by accident or 'destiny' some might say.

I was making some small, extra amount of money with a little work from homes business. And I saw there was some CPA offers associated with this. So I started a Blog and grew it from there


- Robert Andrew

Hey,
A few online ideas could be --
1. Ecommerce
2. Web Application
3. Website Designing
4. Web Based Services
5. Website Flipping
6. Website Maintenance

I recognized a need for a particular type of information that was not readily available in one place and I built a website to fill that need.

Whether it is online or bricks and mortar, the most successful businesses are the ones that find an unmet need and proceed to satisfy that need.

If you watch "Shark Tank," one of the points that the investors often raise is whether the entrepreneur has an existing market that is searching for a solution or whether the entrepreneur is going to need to create the "need" by educating the market as to what the product or service does.

An "unmet" need does not necessarily mean that others are not already trying to fill the need. It may mean that your solution is simply better or it may even mean that the market is so large that there are always enough customers to sustain a new entry in the field.

I know one thing – you need to sell things – not buy things to make money online.

So that’s what I do – I sell my service – I sell many other products.

It took time and energy to learn – there is no instant cash machine.

You have to build a list first off – that’s the key.

Then you have to learn traffic generation. That’s the water that flows the income to you.

You need to have products to offer. Otherwise how will you make money?

I know this email is kind of a rant but I really want my subscribers to do well. Do you have a skill? A talent? A training?

Can you fish?
Can you cook?
Can you carve wood?
Can you identify birds?
Can you fix cars?
Do you know herbs?
Do you know beer making?
Do you dance well?
Do you play the guitar?
Do you know acupressure?

Start a site talking about it – make a forum on it – go to other similar forums and offer help – put a link to your forum in your signature. People will come and start believing in your expertise.

They will WANT you to teach them!

Make a course of what you know – I am telling you people want to know it!

Write the course! Write 12 months of it – one lesson at a time. It’s easier than it sounds.

Charge $400 or more for it. At the end give a certificate of completion.

I do just this everyday and make $4000 a month – you can too!

Just start – make a simple site with a forum on it today.

You might think I am kidding but I am not!

This is a goldmine if you take action. And it’s much quicker than you think. In a month you will be rolling!

Fooling around with $7 dollar products will never make you secure financially. That’s the fact.

I hope a few of you think about this!

Regards Phil

Look for what is called "Desperate Niches". You can Google that.

Then see what resonates with you. You may have some past experience and can share that.

Or if you are curious about one of the niches, research it out.

Now it goes without saying, do your due diligence by seeing if you are in a profitable niche. You can get information from this forum on how to find if a niche is profitable. You want to see how profitable before you dive in.

Leilani

For my first business I noticed my company was using some in house software to solve a problem. After I left the company I made my own version of the software, and did very well out of it.

My second business started after I started blogging about something I was doing in my life at the time, and I found out by accident that it was a pretty good niche.

Ideas don’t come like lightning instead they must be nurtured, shared and discussed so as to make them better.
I took 8 months before stepping into what I am doing now – blogging.

Having started 3 different businesses and consulted with hundreds of others - my advice would be...

1. Match your passion with desire/demand
2. Think BIG - in other words, a single ebook or selling your own service (graphic designer, business strategy, etc...) may be where you start, but think where you want to go next...do you want to build an agency, turn your consulting knowledge into a product-based business, - how will you scale and what ultimately is the structure of your business that you want
3. Don't limit yourself by only what you know today - if you have a passion for another field and you have skills around building into that area, dig in to find commercial opportunity and then drive like crazy

For us, each of our 3 businesses came directly from our passion for that area, a drive to gain a deep understanding of the market, uncovering biggest gaps/commercial desire and then developing differentiated offerings into those markets with a 3-year plan to rollout mutliple products.

By following this path you avoid many of the short-term, small-thinking type mistakes that permeate the IM and biz opp space.

Jeff

Personally, it was a slow process choosing
career of choice.

My father taught me both trading/investing
and sales and marketing.

The two are vastly different.

Ultimately, trading made the most sense to
me in terms of earning potential and saving
time.

For me, it was a service that I knew people needed. Since I had just retired, I thought to partner with the company and begin helping people. No bolts of lightening...just common sense and knowing the need!